Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 3, 2018 4:17:17 GMT -5

‘We were close to direct conflict between Russia & US inside Syria’ – Bashar Assad.

RT EXCLUSIVE31 May, 2018 05:28

Syrian President Bashar Assad says Moscow deterred the West from launching a devastating country-wide air strike last month, and believes that Damascus has nearly won the seven-year war, despite continued US “interference.”

“With every move forward for the Syrian Army, and for the political process, and for the whole situation, our enemies and our opponents, mainly the West led by the United States and their puppets in Europe and in our region, they try to make it farther – either by supporting more terrorism, bringing more terrorists to Syria, or by hindering the political process,” Assad told RT correspondent Murad Gazdiev, during a sit-down interview in Damascus, noting that without outside funding his opponents inside the country could be subdued “within a year.”

After having to switch its support between the various anti-Assad factions, and the recapture of the key cities of Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor by government forces over the past two years, Washington, the Syrian leader believes, is “losing its cards” and can be brought to the negotiating table.

“Our challenge is how can we close this gap between their plans and our plans,” Assad said.

‘World didn’t buy US chemical weapons story’

The Syrian leader believes, however, that the closer the deadly conflict comes to an end, the more desperate his opponents’ measures become. He cited the alleged Douma chemical weapon attack (“Is it in our interest? Why, and why now?” he asks) as a last-ditch Western attempt to sway international opinion – one that failed.

“They told a story, they told a lie, and the public opinion around the world and in the West didn’t buy their story, but they couldn’t withdraw. So, they had to do something, even on a smaller scale,” Assad said, referring to the joint airstrikes against purported Syrian chemical weapons facilities, carried out on April 14 by the US, UK, and France.

Assad says Moscow also played a role in restraining Washington’s influence and meddling in the region, both generally since its invitation to aid Damascus in September 2015, and in this particular incident.

‘Russia deterred larger-scale attack on Syria’

“The Russians announced publicly that they are going to destroy the bases that are going to be used to launch missiles, and our information – we don’t have evidence, we only have information, and that information is credible information – that they were thinking about a comprehensive attack all over Syria, and that’s why the threat pushed the West to make it on a much smaller scale,” the Syrian president said.

With Western ‘advisers’ deployed alongside their proxy forces in Syria, Assad also thanked Russia for not triggering face-to-face confrontation with the US, which is operating in close proximity both in the air and on the ground.

“We were close to have direct conflict between the Russian forces and the American forces, and fortunately, it has been avoided, not by the wisdom of the American leadership, but by the wisdom of the Russian leadership,” Assad told Gazdiev. “We need the Russian support, but we need at the same time to avoid the American foolishness in order to be able to stabilize our country.”

‘Either you have a country or you don’t have a country’

Despite praising the diplomatic efforts of the Astana peace process, and emphasizing the government’s own drive to win the hearts and minds by restoring order in liberated areas, and initiating a process of reconciliation, Assad says there are still some victories that will have to be won on the battlefield.

“Factions like Al-Qaeda, like ISIS, like Al-Nusra, and the like-minded groups, they’re not ready for any dialogue, they don't have any political plan; they only have this dark ideological plan, which is to be like any Al-Qaeda-controlled area anywhere in this world. So, the only option to deal with those factions is force,” Assad said, emphasizing that there is no stepping back now.

“The more escalation we have, the more determined we’ll be to solve the problem, because you don’t have any other choice; either you have a country or you don’t have a country,” the Syrian president told RT.

Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 14, 2018 14:36:37 GMT -5

Islamic State still keeps its presence in Syria, but only in US-controlled areas while those liberated by Syrian government forces areas are slowly recovering after terrorists’ defeat, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

“All the remaining pockets of resistance of ISIS terrorists in Syria are only in areas controlled by the United States,” Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a defense ministry spokesman, said on Saturday.

Earlier, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a bold statement that pulling out of the Arab Republic “must avoid leaving a vacuum in Syria that can be exploited by the Assad regime or its supporters,” in apparent reference to Iran and Russia.

Russia has been fighting terrorists in the country on the invitation of the Syrian government, while the US presence there has been deemed aggressive by Damascus.

Konashenkov pulled no punches on the US military official, reminding him that the Washington-led invasion in Iraq under a false pretext in fact led to the rise of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and eventually its expansion into war-ravaged Syria.

“Further expansion of ISIS in Syria became possible due to criminal inaction of the US and the so-called ‘international coalition,’ which resulted in quickly gaining control by ISIS militants over the main oil-bearing areas of Eastern Syria and constant flow of funds from the illegal sale of oil products,” Konashenkov said.

Washington supplied arms worth hundreds of millions to the “fictitious” Syrian opposition, while the vast majority of it ended up in hands of Al-Qaeda offshoot Al-Nusra Front, and Islamic State, he claimed. That, in Konashenkov’s view, shows that the terrorists groups’ goals in Syria coincide with Washington’s policies.

Meanwhile, not a cent from the US budget has come to facilitate the recovery of the former conflict zones now controlled by the Syrian government.

“In the Syrian provinces controlled by the legitimate authorities of the [Syrian Arab] Republic, peaceful life is now actively restored, settlements are being demined; enterprises, markets, schools and kindergartens are working. Humanitarian aid and food is arriving there, from which there is not even a piece of packaging, paid from the budget of the United States.”

Earlier, mass loss of civilian life in Islamic State-held Raqqa, inflicted by the US-led coalition, was slammed by Amnesty International. Its damning report, published earlier this week, said that residents were trapped as fighting raged in the streets between Islamic State militants and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who were supported by coalition airstrikes.

Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 14, 2018 15:06:06 GMT -5

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it has credible intelligence that US Special Forces are helping Syrian rebels orchestrate a “chemical attack provocation” using chlorine to provoke Western airstrikes on Syrian's government forces.

“Our intelligence confirmed by three independent Syrian sources says that commanders of the so-called ‘Free Syrian Army’, backed by the American Special Forces operators, are preparing a serious provocation involving chemical warfare agents in Deir ez-Zor province,” reads a statement released by Russian Defense Ministry.

The military alleged the FSA militants are likely to employ chlorine to orchestrate the chemical incident. “To imitate yet another ‘chemical attack by the regime against peaceful civilians’, the rebels brought canisters filled with chlorine,” it said.

The set-up could then be distributed in Western media and serve as a pretext for renewed coalition airstrikes against Syrian government’s targets. The planned “provocation,” the Russian military said, is also to justify an FSA offensive against Syrian troops on eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

The Defense Ministry earlier warned of such plans involving chemical weapons. On the latest occasion in March, Russian Reconciliation Center received a tip-off from a local resident who said possible preparations for a “provocation” with the use of chemical agents were underway in Eastern Ghouta.

According to the intelligence, Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) group have placed “hermetically sealed containers,” which could contain poisonous substances, next to a self-engineered turbine on one of the roofs in the Damascus suburb.

News of an alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma broke on April 7, with dramatic footage depicting people dousing crying children with water - leading to swift accusations that Syrian President Bashar Assad had ordered yet another “atrocity.”

Two weeks later, however, a reporter from German public broadcaster ZDF spoke to locals who told him the whole event was “staged.” The world’s third-largest news agency AFP and British tabloid the Independent also visited the site and ran stories casting doubt on whether the chemical attack had taken place.

Eventually, a boy from the Douma “attack” video, who was initially believed to be a victim, as well as medical staff at the hospital testified at a Russia-backed conference at The Hague. They revealed that members of the controversial White Helmets group poured cold water over kids after prompting panic over a fake “chemical attack.”

None of the patients at the local hospitals showed any symptoms of chemical weapons poisoning, witnesses said.

Moscow has consistently raised concerns about possible provocations using chemical agents in Syria. Russia believes that such attacks will be widely-covered in the Western media and may ultimately be used to provoke the US-led coalition to launch strikes against Syrian government forces.

Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 15, 2018 23:32:09 GMT -5

Since the Syrian city of Afrin was taken by the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army, local Kurds, used to a secular lifestyle, have been reportedly forced to obey Sharia law. Beside religious pressure, Kurdish property has been seized, plundered and destroyed, according to human rights activists.

The pro-Sharia street posters in the Syrian city of Afrin, which was occupied by the Turkish military and Syrian anti-government militia in March 2018, have triggered an uproar among the local Kurdish majority, according the British newspaper Independent.

Mostly Muslim, but committed to a secular way of life, Kurdish women have reportedly held protests in the city, demanding that the ads be taken down, urging them to wear traditional clothes, covering the face and body, and follow extremely strict Sharia rules.

While the posters have been removed by the Turkish police, a local activist, cited by the British newspaper, calls the posters a part of a campaign impacting the independence of Kurdish women.

“Just because I wear jeans, I always hear words such as ‘whore, disbeliever, dogs of Assad and the Shiites from strangers in the street,” she says.

According to the Independent’s report, Kurdish women are under pressure from the militia belonging to fundamentalist Islamic groups that have seized control over Afrin, as well as from newcomers who had been ousted from eastern Ghouta during the operation of the governmental forces against the terror groups.

While about 137,000 people have left the area of Afrin since the Turkish Operation Olive Branch began, 143,000 people remain in the war-torn area, according to the United Nations.

According to the Human Rights Watch, which interviewed people displaced from the area, the fighters who seized control over the city move their supporters from other parts of Syria and let them take over and damage their homes, businesses and property without compensation. The rights organization points out that such actions can be identified as war crimes.

Soon after the city was taken, the Turkish authorities reported that they were investigating looting allegations in Afrin and promised to ensure that it would be a safe place.

Later in April, one of the militia groups in the area, Ahrar al-Sharqiyah, also stated that they carried no responsibility for property seizures and looting.

The current situation in the Kurdish-dominated Syrian city of Afrin remains quite tense since it was overtaken by Turkey after a three-month operation, aimed at “clearing” its border with Syria of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD). Ankara believes them to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that the advance would not end with the capture of Afrin, clarifying that the regions of Manbij and Idlib would be the next targets. Damascus slammed the operation as a violation of Syrian sovereignty.

Post by TsarSamuil on Jul 1, 2018 2:09:54 GMT -5

Russia’s Defense Ministry has revealed that equipment manufactured by the EU and US was found in a terrorist chemical lab in Syria, which was used to produce explosives and poisonous agents.

The statement was made at a joint briefing by the Russian Foreign and Defense Ministries on Friday, when they displayed the equipment that spokesperson Maria Zakharova said was found in the Syrian town of Douma, near the capital Damascus.

Major General Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops, said a lab rigged with explosives was discovered in Douma on April 17, along with a store of chemicals.

The equipment was used to produce PETN explosives, and substances that can be used to produce mustard gas were also found. Some parts of the equipment were produced in the EU and the US, Kirillov said. He added that both the lab and the storage site were shown to OPCW mission that arrived in Douma to investigate an alleged chemical attack, “but did not draw their interest.”

Zakharova added that Russia is ready to present this evidence to other countries. The Russian military say they found more than 40 tons of chemical agents in total in areas freed from terrorists in Syria.

Kirillov also claimed that the “imitation” of a chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun in 2017 was staged by the controversial group the White Helmets. A shell hole on the site had characteristics of a small ground-based explosion, and not a bomb dropped by aircraft, he said, adding that the crater was filled with concrete even before the OPCW investigation.

He also referred to the images that were made in the initial hours following the incident, which showed people at the site of the ‘attack’ not wearing protective gear. This would have been impossible if sarin had been used, Kirillov said.

He proceeded to criticize reports produced by the OPCW on Syria, which he accused of an “unprofessional approach” for investigating and making conclusions in relation to incidents in Khan Shaykhun, Saraqib and Al-Lataminah without dispatching experts on the ground.

It is not surprising that the OPCW reports are often riddled with words like ‘allegedly’ or ‘reportedly,’ he added, saying: “Such lexicon is unacceptable for a serious document, which is supposed to be based on irrefutable evidence.”

“The long-distance nature of investigations, as well as the collection, analysis and the usage of documents acquired without the experts actually arriving at the sites of alleged chemical attacks, constitutes a direct violation of the [Chemical Weapons] Convention,” Kirillov stated.

Post by TsarSamuil on Jul 1, 2018 2:12:41 GMT -5

US tells rebels not to count on its help as Syrian army advances into country’s southwest – report.

RT.com24 Jun, 2018 05:26

The US military has reportedly warned the rebels it backs in Syria that it will not help them thwart a large-scale offensive of the Syrian Army, which is rapidly gaining ground in the southwest of the country.

In a letter to the commanders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a loose umbrella group of armed rebels, Washington wrote that they should not base their decisions "on the assumption or expectation of a military intervention by us.”

The message, which was reported by Reuters on Sunday, calls on the group to decide for themselves on their response to the rapidly-advancing Syrian forces that continue their assault eyeing to reclaim the swathes of land along the border with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

"We in the United States government understand the difficult conditions you are facing and still advise the Russians and the Syrian regime not to undertake a military measure that violates the zone," the message states.

There have been mounting concerns that the new push by the Syrian army might drag the US troops, especially those deployed in Al-Tanf military base along the Jordanian border, into the showdown with the Syrian forces.

Tensions have flared up amid reports by Syrian state media about the spike in the US-led coalition attacks on its military. At least eight people were killed in the alleged strike by the coalition in Deir ez-Zor on Thursday, the same day the US military claimed that its Al-Tanf base was targeted by unknown hostile forces.

The message comes after Washington accused Damascus of “unambiguously violating” the ceasefire agreed between Russia, the US and Jordan last July.

The deal paved the way for the establishment of a de-escalation zone in Syria’s southwest, where rebels and the Syrian government forces are barred from fighting each other. The truce was ultimately aimed at separating ‘moderate’ opposition from terrorists, as terrorist groups were excluded from the agreement.

“The Syrian regime’s violations of the ceasefire in southwest Syria need to stop,” Ambassador Nikki Haley said at a UN meeting on Friday. On Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert warned the Syrian government of “serious repercussions,” without elaborating.

Some 2,000 US troops have been stationed in Syria, some of them are embedded with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the others are in Al-Tanf. While US President Donald Trump floated the idea of a withdrawal earlier this year, now the Pentagon says that its troops are to stay in Syria for as long as needed, meaning it can be indefinitely.

While Washington does not seem eager to engage in a direct confrontation with the Syrian troops now, the US has a long history of using Syrian rebels as proxies, supplying them with weapons that occasionally fall in the wrong hands.

A study conducted by Conflict Armament Research group in December found that the arms sent by the US to what it claimed are “vetted” rebel groups “have significantly augmented the quantity and quality of weapons available to (Islamic State) forces.” While it’s hard to determine whether terrorist groups, such as ISIS or the former Al-Nusra front, seized the weapons from US-backed forces, or that the so-called “moderate” rebels blended in with them and handed over the deadly supplies, the tendency has been a source of major concern for Moscow.

The cooperation between the US forces and militants stretches beyond that, and it includes false flag attacks and provocations with chemical weapons, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry, citing intelligence.

In one of its latest warnings, the military said that the US Special Forces were helping the FSA militants to set up a chemical incident, that can serve as a pretext for a new bombing campaign.

Post by TsarSamuil on Jul 1, 2018 2:47:51 GMT -5

The notorious White Helmets have brought chemicals, protective gear and cameras to militant-controlled Idlib in Syria, in an apparent preparation of yet another false-flag attack, locals told the Russian Reconciliation Center.

A convoy of six vehicles, bearing the emblems of the White Helmets, reportedly arrived in the capital of Idlib province over the weekend, the head of the Russian Reconciliation Center, major general Aleksey Tsygankov, told journalists on Wednesday.

One of the trucks was loaded with missiles and canisters containing unknown substances, as well as protective gear and filming equipment. Local residents reported seeing four persons, wearing hazmat protection gear, filling the warheads with this liquid and some unknown powder. The convoy then reportedly left for the small town of Maarat al-Numaan, south of the city of Idlib.

White Helmets have on several occasions become the first to provide footage of alleged chemical attack sites in Syria and the aftermath scenes, including the Khan Shaykhun and Douma incidents. Their photos and videos served as solid-enough proof for the US and its allies to immediately conduct ‘retaliatory’ strikes against the Syrian government forces in April 2017 and in April 2018.

The self-styled volunteer first-responders have also been mired in controversy by their links to al-Qaeda terrorists and other extremist groups in Syria. The group operates exclusively in militant-held areas of Syria, and its members have repeatedly been photographed and filmed fraternizing with jihadists.

Despite all the controversy, the group is praised as heroic by the mainstream media and receives funding from Western governments. While Washington briefly stopped financing the group, it apparently soon realized their usefulness and released $6.6 million for the “vital, life-saving operations” of the so-called Syrian Civil Defense activists. London also vowed to keep financing the group, while the British Prime Minister Theresa May even pledged to increase their funding.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry repeatedly warned that it had credible intelligence that militants in Syria are involved in orchestrating false flag chemical attacks to justify Western airstrikes on Syrian government forces – and even accused US Special Forces of helping to stage such provocations.

Post by TsarSamuil on Jul 2, 2018 7:17:49 GMT -5

Russian military downs unidentified drones near Khmeimim Air Base in Syria – MoD.

RT.com1 Jul, 2018 08:52

A group of unidentified drones has been shot down by Russia’s Air Defense units near Khmeimim Air Base in Syria, the Russian MoD has announced. No damage to the facility was reported.

The objects were detected north-east from the military facility on Saturday, the base’s authorities said. “All aerial targets were destroyed,” they confirmed. The military, however, stopped short of naming exact weapon systems which were used to bring down the drones (UAVs).

This is not the first time Khmeimim Air Base, located south-east of the port of Latakia, has been targeted with unmanned aircraft this year. In May, the Russian MoD said its units also downed a drone near the military compound.

But the most large-scale assault on Khmeimim was launched in January with at least 10 drones attacking the site. Three others targeted the Russian maritime logistics point in the city of Tartus. The majority of the intruders were successfully downed by the Russian Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft weapon system. The radio electronics warfare specialists also managed to override the operating systems of other drones.

After examining the devices and recovering the data, Russian specialists determined that the January attack was launched from an area near Idlib, controlled by various rebel forces.

Back then, the head of the UAV department of the Russian General Staff, Major General Aleksandr Novikov, warned that terrorists acquired advanced drone technology which raised the risks of potential attacks all over the world. “The research showed that the avionics equipment mounted on the drones facilitated their fully automated preprogrammed flight and bombing, ruling out any jamming,” Novikov said at the time.

The Russian military also noted that that detonators used in the militants’ Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) carried by the drones were “of foreign manufacture.” It suggested that preparing an attack with such aircraft required special skills, which the perpetrators may have received from a foreign party.

Post by TsarSamuil on Jul 8, 2018 3:43:56 GMT -5

Nerve agents not found in samples from Syria's Douma – interim OPCW report.

RT.com6 Jul, 2018 16:36

No traces of any nerve agents have been found at the site of a suspected chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma, an interim report issued by the OPCW says, adding that several chlorine compounds were detected.

“Various chlorinated organic chemicals were found in samples” from two locations in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which were examined by specialists from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an interim OPCW document said. The chemicals were found in two samples taken from canisters found in Douma, the report said. The report confirmed the absence of any traces of nerve agents, such as sarin, at the site.

Technical notes in the OPCW report specify that one of its laboratories found traces of dichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, chloral hydrate, trichlorophenol and chlorophenol in some of the samples. Some of these chemicals, such as dichloroacetic acid and chloral hydrate, are known byproducts of water purification. Another OPCW laboratory only reported finding “no CWC-scheduled chemicals,” meaning nothing that was banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The OPCW sent a fact-finding mission to Douma in April, around a week after the alleged incident. During the same month, Russia said that chlorine containers from Germany, which apparently belonged to militants, were found in the liberated parts of Douma.

Later, the Russian military found an entire laboratory operated by militants in central Douma, which was capable of producing chemical weapons. The lab had some sophisticated equipment, including an industrial chemical reactor, which was apparently used by the militants to create toxic agents. The footage, taken by Russian journalists inside the facility, also showed vast stockpiles of various chemicals, some of which were produced in Germany, as well as empty mortar shells that can be filled with poisonous substances.

The purported chemical incident in Douma allegedly took place on April 7. A week later, Washington and its allies launched a massive retaliatory missile strike against Syria, without waiting for the OPCW to start its investigation of the incident.

The OPCW report comes about a week after the OPCW was granted authority not only to investigate whether any alleged chemical attack took place, but also to assign blame for them. Moscow then warned that the move that actually drove a wedge between some key OPCW members could lead to a situation, which the chemical watchdog would be used as a political tool.

Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 4, 2018 1:45:09 GMT -5

The Israeli Knesset has approved the 'nation-state bill' that promotes Jewish-only settlements, downgrades Arab language status and limits the right to self-determination to Jews. Arab MPs chided the law as racist.

The bill, which has the status of a basic law (approximately the same as a constitutional law in countries with a written constitution), was passed overnight to Thursday with 62 votes in favor and 55 against after hours of fierce argument and debate. It will now come into force as soon as it's published in the Knesset's Official Gazette.

The law, which had been in the works since 2011, has sparked a wave of protests, which spilled over the Israeli border and angered the influential Jewish diaspora in the US.

The bill formally defines the main principles that should stand at the core of the Israeli state and its symbols, such as the flag, the anthem, its capital and language. In a clause that set Arab lawmakers off, the bill explicitly states that "the right to exercises national determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people."

The critics of the bill argue that such wording makes some 1.8 million Israeli Arabs, a quarter of the population, second-class citizens.

Another contentious clause strips the Arabic language of its official status, instead granting it "a special status" and leaving Hebrew as the only official state language. Although the bill specifically points out that "this clause does not harm the status given to the Arabic language before this law came into effect," its opponents have been up in arms over the wording change.

At the center of the controversy is the part of the law aimed at promoting the "establishment and consolidation" of Jewish settlements, which is being castigated by the opposition as a shorthand for segregation bordering on apartheid.

The divisive nature of the new legislation that saw thousands of people, including Arabs and secular Jews flocking to streets in protest, has not stopped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from hailing its adoption as a huge success.

"With this law we determined the founding principle of our existence. Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, and respects the rights of all of its citizens," Netanyahu said, as cited by Haaretz.

As the bill was narrowly passed, Arab MPs did not hide their frustration shredding their drafts to pieces in protest before confronting Netanyahu and storming out of the chamber.

"You passed an apartheid law, a racist law," MPs Ahmed Tibi and Ayeda Touma-Souliman from The Joint List, a coalition of Arab-dominated parties in the Israeli Parliament, shouted to the Israeli leader as he lauded the freshly-approved legislation.

Netanyahu brushed off all argument that the law prioritizes the rights of Jews at the expense of Arabs, touting the Jewish state as "the only democracy in the Middle East."

But the Jewish community itself has been split about the law. Before it was adopted, 14 American Jewish organizations relayed their concerns to the incoming Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog, who has been a vocal critic of the bill himself.

For instance, New Israel Fund CEO Daniel Sokatch called the bill "completely incompatible" with the "democratic foundation" of the Israeli state.

Speaking ahead of the vote, Herzog warned that while fostering the Jewish state, the law might deal a blow to democratic values.

"I really hope that we won't find the fine balance between a Jewish and democratic state to be hurt," he said, as cited by Haaretz.

Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 4, 2018 1:52:35 GMT -5

Over 1,200 corpses unearthed in Raqqa mass graves, US still in denial about massive casualties.

RT.com22 Jul, 2018 14:14

The bodies of more than 1,200 civilians, mostly women and children, were discovered in mass graves in Raqqa, Syria. The total number of corpses still rotting there is unknown, as relatives continue searching for their loved ones.

The Raqqa Reconstruction Committee has been working for more than six months to deal with and dig up the human cost of the city’s ‘liberation.’ The group says it has discovered some 1,236 bodies since January from just three burial sites, but fears that there are many more elsewhere.

The city was pounded with some 30,000 artillery rounds and thousands of airstrikes launched by the US-led coalition in 2017, which reduced 90 percent of the buildings to rubble. While the US still claims there were what Amnesty called “artificially low civilian casualty figures,” the rights group’s findings and witnesses prove the US is just “deeply in denial” as to the real number of casualties.

US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked Israel to evacuate the members of the controversial Western-backed White Helmets group from Syria, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed.

"President Trump and also Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, as well as others, requested us to help take out from Syria hundreds of White Helmets members,” Netanyahu said in a video address on Sunday.

He described the White Helmets, who have been accused of cooperating with terrorists and faking chemical attacks, as “people who saved lives.”

The members of the controversial group were “under life-threatening danger… I therefore authorized for them to be transferred through Israel to other countries as an important humanitarian measure,” the Israeli PM said.

Israel evacuated several hundred White Helmet staff and their families from the Golan Heights region in southern Syria to Jordan overnight on Saturday. The initial plan reportedly involved the evacuation of 800 people, but the Jordanian authorities later said that only 422 made it into the country.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Emmanuel Nahshon, earlier wrote on Twitter that the Jewish state carried out the operation “upon request of the US, Canada and European states.”

Meanwhile, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced that the country is ready to take in at least eight members of the controversial group, along with their families. “I have decided that Germany will accept eight members of the Syrian opposition civil rescue service [known as] the White Helmets as well as their families and will grant them protection,” Seehofer told Bild on Sunday.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also confirmed Berlin’s intention to take in the White Helmets but did not quantify the planned intake. Citing Maas, Bild then reported that the total number of the controversial ‘civil defense activists’ and their family members accepted by Germany could reach 50.

The report explained that German law allows accelerated admission of foreign nationals “on the grounds of international law or urgent humanitarian reasons.” Seehofer has already issued residency permits to those individuals who Germany plans to take in, the media said, meaning that they would not need to apply for asylum upon their arrival on German soil.

Russia and Syria must hunt down and prosecute members of the White Helmets for “war crimes,” Syria’s Grand Mufti has said shortly after Israel “evacuated” a large number of the group’s members at the request of the US and Canada.

“These people are not refugees. They are war criminals. I’d like to ask the governments of our two countries [Syria and Russia] to pursue the members of the White Helmets group. To find them anywhere they might be,” Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun said on Monday. Hassoun was meeting families of five Russian servicemen, who were killed while fighting terrorists in Syria. The relatives of the fallen soldiers were invited to visit Syria by President Bashar Assad.

Hassoun branded the White Helmets group “terrorists” and squarely blamed them for the use of chemical weapons against civilians. While the White Helmets advertise themselves as a humanitarian group and Syria’s “civil defense” they operate exclusively in militant controlled areas. The group, praised in the West as “rescuers” has been repeatedly accused of closely cooperating with terrorists and staging chemical attacks to frame Syria’s government.

On Sunday, the Israeli military said it evacuated a number of the group’s members and their families from Syria to Jordan at the request of the US, Canada and some European countries. The initial plan involved the evacuation of 800 people, yet only 422 made it to Jordan, according to the country’s authorities.

Tel Aviv’s move was condemned by Syria’s government, which said that the “criminal operation” to rescue the White Helmets is further proof of Israel’s support towards terrorists. It has long accused Tel Aviv of tending to injured Syrian militants, distributing “humanitarian aid” to militant-controlled areas and repeatedly attacking Syria’s government troops over alleged Iranian military buildup.

The evacuated members of the White Helmets are expected to be resettled in Canada, Germany and some other countries. Such destinations have clearly shown who the true masters of the group are, Hassoun said.

“We’d like to ask why they are not fleeing to Syria, why they don’t want to return to the Syrian society? There’s only one answer – they are the force, which the West counted on to destroy the Syrian society,” he stressed.

The pullout of the White Helmets from Syria, carried out by Israel on the US' and Canada’s request, reveals “true colors and hypocrisy” of the controversial group, showing who actually controls it, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

The rescue operation, which emerged Sunday, “speaks for itself” and clearly shows who exactly the group serves, the ministry said in a statement on Monday, calling its members “pseudo-humanitarians.” Some 422 of them were picked by the Israeli military and transferred to Jordan after the evacuation was requested by the US, Canada and some European countries. It has emerged that a total of 800 people were expected to be pulled out initially.

The White Helmets group has advertised itself as a volunteer force and Syria’s “civil defense.” The group has been praised in the West, even receiving an Oscar for a “documentary” movie, yet it has been repeatedly accused of cooperating closely with jihadist groups and effectively serving as their media branch.

“It’s well known, that the White Helmets had their hand in the most notorious false flag operations during the Syrian conflict. They acted exclusively on territories under the control of Islamic radicals, staged blatant falsifications, which were used then as a pretext to raise accusations against the Syrian authorities,” the ministry stated.

The evacuated White Helmets are now expected to be resettled in a number of Western countries, namely Canada, Germany, France and some others. The US, while welcoming the evacuation of White Helmets in a statement penned by the State Department, didn’t seem to be in a rush to welcome its members on its soil.

“It’s symbolic that the White Helmets preferred to flee Syria with foreign assistance, showing their true colors and hypocrisy to the world,” the ministry said, adding that the “evacuation” of the White Helmets “clearly showed whose orders they were carrying out, and who pay-rolled them.”

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Germany offers asylum to White Helmets, some MPs ask why not to Assange?

RTJul 26, 2018

Germany's decision to take in members of the controversial Syrian group, the White Helmets, has sparked anger among lawmakers, who say Berlin should be offering asylum to others instead.

Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 6, 2018 23:08:26 GMT -5

Russian military prevents drone attack on Khmeimim base in Syria.

RT.com29 Jul, 2018 02:02

A drone, launched from a militant-held area towards Russia’s Khmeimim base in Syria, was shot down by the airfield’s defenses on Friday, the Russian military has reported, urging militant commanders to cease all provocations.

The UAV was launched after dark from an area controlled by illegal armed groups in the north of Latakia province, according to a statement from the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria.

“The aerial target was destroyed at a significant distance from the base” by anti-aircraft fire in a routine manner, the military said, noting there were no injuries or material damage. The Khmeimim base has recently been a frequent target of drone attacks, with at least three similar incidents occurring this month alone.

The largest assault on the Russian airfield was launched in January and involved at least ten UAV’s simultaneously targeting the base. Three other drones also tried to approach the Russian maritime logistics center in the city of Tartus.

The majority of the intruders were successfully downed by the Russian Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft weapon system. Radio electronics warfare specialists also managed to override the operating systems of other drones, forcing them to land in order obtain the militant hardware.

Despite the attack being fruitless, the Russian military has sounded alarms over the terrorists being in possession of advanced drone technology, saying there’s a real risk of unmanned aircraft being used against less-protected targets in other countries.

The Russian military urged the militant commanders to refrain from provocations and to engage in a peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict. Over the last few months, the majority of militant groups in Syria agreed to surrender in exchange for safe passage for them and their families. Refugees are returning to the areas formerly occupied by terrorists, with Russia and other countries helping with humanitarian aid. Yet this week has been marred by a series of suicide attacks in Syria’s south-west.

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Russian military shoots down another militant drone near Khmeimim base in Syria.

RT.com30 Jul, 2018 19:10

A drone launched by the militants at Russia’s Khmeimim base in Syria, was shot down by the airfield’s defenses, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday.

The UAV targeting the Russian airbase approached from the direction of the Idlib de-escalation zone on Sunday night, the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria said in a statement.

“The target was destroyed by anti-aircraft fire at a significant distance from the base,” the military said.

There were no injuries or material damage as a result of the attempted attack, with the Khmeimim airfield operating in routine manner.

The base has recently been a frequent target of attempted drone attacks, with the military reporting similar incidents on July 21, 22 and 27.

Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 9, 2018 11:23:23 GMT -5

Bilal Abdul Kareem, a self-identified journalist who found his fame with dramatic “under-fire" reports from Aleppo, Syria, is doing what he does best – mingling with militants and jihadist mercenaries.

In a report for ‘On the Ground News,’ which claims to bring “accurate, confirmed & up to date news” (as well as “document Assad/Putin war crimes”), Kareem is seen in a training camp with militants training to repel Syrian government forces in Idlib. Determined to “make sure that what happened [in Aleppo] isn’t going to happen in Idlib,” the fighters are training with machine guns under the guidance of a mercenary group.

Most of the report sounds like an advert for the weapons – something Kareem calls a “PKC.” It is in fact one of the multitude of variants of the Kalashnikov machine gun, although no variant under that name actually exists. There is the PKS, often misspelled by English-language sources as PKC, but that is not the one shown in the video either.

Using terms such as “automatic machine gun,” Kareem extolls its virtues and the progress the militants are making in training to use it. He also laments how, despite the seven-year long war, the expertise is something the fighters are still lacking in. He then identifies the trainers: Malhama Tactical.

A 10-member group of Uzbek militants, Malhama Tactical is the first ever private jihadist contractor. It has seen fighting and training alongside members of various groups in Syria, including internationally-recognized terrorists from Al-Nusra and Tahrir al-Sham, among others. The Uzbeks are also adept at digital PR, jumping between social media accounts as they are banned for extremist content.

Bilal Abdul Kareem, a New York-born former comedian turned anti-Assad journalist, is no stranger to controversy like this. In late 2016 he served as a useful tool for Western media condemnation of the Syrian and Russian operation to liberate Aleppo, posting goodbye messages together with other “civilian activists” as government forces were advancing. He was later seen alive and well, posing together with a suicide-belt-equipped militant. Kareem also believes he is on a US kill-list, claims he has escaped five separate airstrikes, and is suing the Trump administration.

Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 11, 2018 3:43:55 GMT -5

Russian air defenses in Syria have shot down yet another unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, that was approaching the Khmeimim air base from terrorist-controlled territory, the military has said.

Shooting down hostile drones has become somewhat of a routine for the Russian forces stationed in Syria’s Latakia province. Over the past month the Russian air defenses have neutralized at least 25 drones approaching Khmeimim armed with various types of explosives.

On Thursday, yet another UAV was spotted on approach, and the target was successfully shot down by the air defense systems at a safe distance from the base, the head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria confirmed.

While Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists have been almost completely driven out of Syria by the Arab army with the help of Russian air power, small pockets of jihadi resistance from various armed militant cells still operate in the war-torn country. In an apparent effort to intimidate the Russian contingent in Latakia province, militants continue futile attempts to send drones towards the base, which Moscow defends with multi-layer anti-air capabilities.

Moscow and Damascus have repeatedly pointed out that the remaining ISIS presence in Syria centers in the US-controlled areas, while those liberated by Syrian government forces areas are slowly recovering and joining the statewide reconciliation effort.

Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 26, 2018 2:17:36 GMT -5

Suicide bomber’s belt of explosives blew up before he got to Christian church service in Egypt.

RT.com11 Aug, 2018 17:21

Egyptian security forces have thwarted a suicide bomber as he attempted to position himself among members of a church congregation wearing a belt of explosives, during a religious celebration at a heavily guarded Christian church.

The suicide bomber was attempting to enter the Church of the Virgin Mary in Mostorod, Shubra Al-Khaim, when tight security prevented him from getting close to the crowds of Coptic Christians. Abdel Maseeh Basset, pastor of the Church, told local media that the bomb went off before the would-be killer got to the church.

The bomber was killed on a nearby bridge in Northern Cairo when his explosive belt blew up, Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Saba reported. The bomber, believed to be a 29-year-old male, was the only person killed when the explosives detonated. Two people were also wounded in the explosion.

Security during the Christian festival of St. Mary’s Fast had been stepped up, following an increase in attacks in recent years by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) on Egypt’s minority Christian population. In 2016, at least 25 people were killed in a suicide attack on a Christian church. In April 2017, two suicide bombings on Palm Sunday at two Coptic churches killed at least 47. One month later, at least another 28 were killed after terrorists targeted a bus carrying Coptic Christians. Islamic State claimed to be behind all of the attacks.

Shoutbox

Proto-Orchid: @ussrstrong: I blame general low activity on social medias, all the people sit there todayOct 10, 2018 12:53:50 GMT -5

reznik: @proto-Orchid: very true. What's worse, is that the system is designed specifically to keep those people dormant in their echo chambers. Nothing new to learn for them there, just stupid cat videos and such. Sad.Oct 14, 2018 5:48:26 GMT -5

Proto-Orchid: Its the substitute for going out, meeting and spending your time with friends in real life. Its just part of the story. When I was younger I remember people were meeting to play team sports, but today you see completely autistic people jogging with iPhone.Oct 14, 2018 18:18:38 GMT -5

Proto-Orchid: Then they come back home, put pictures on Instagram or Facebook to show off how they spent their time jogging, and as mental satisfaction they get few likes or hearts, or whatever social medias have today, which is a measure of how good their life is. SickOct 14, 2018 18:21:43 GMT -5

Pan-Slavic Patriot: Sto Latz! Today marks 100 years of Polska! May there be 100 more! Wish I could have gone to the Independence March to celebrate this year, of all years. Theres always the next one to look forward to...Nov 11, 2018 6:56:57 GMT -5

Pan-Slavic Patriot: The latest flare up in the Ukraine-Russia conflict is painful to watch. Two brothers pit against one-another by foriegn elites, for what? Money and power... Sad.Nov 30, 2018 3:17:07 GMT -5

gioblack94: Hello,I'm the representative of the Bulgarians and the main coordinator of Bulgaria of a movement called:"The slavic movement".Our mission is to create a slavic union and we welcome everybody who wants to join our cause:https://discord.gg/gMh2ZmMay 18, 2020 9:10:02 GMT -5

WhiteGaysack: And what do you think OUR mission is since 2004?Jun 5, 2020 14:56:11 GMT -5